Your Nickname: Shana
Have you read and do you agree to the Code of Conduct?: Yes
How did you find us and decide to write with us? Other
If you have written other characters here: Yes
If Yes, list them all: Bellatrix Dark, Serenity Lee Thornton, Henriette Vincent, Shannon Thornton, and Roxanne Cross
Is this a Primary or Secondary Character?: Primary

Full Character Name: Neoma Jerilyn  Strange
Character Birthday & Age: September 28th, 1996; Freshman/4th Year
City & Country of Birth: La Grange, Georgia; USA
Pureblood, Halfblood or Muggleborn: Halfblood
House & Year: Salem Academy: Ptolemy Hall

Wand: Oak, Griffin Claw, 7 1/4 inches, Supple with a smooth shaft. The handle is decorated with peach leaf and small peach designs carved into the handle.

Physical Description: Neoma is a tiny little thing standing only around 5'1" and weighing at the most 95-100 lbs. She has no muscles and her body itself, though slender, is not fully developed in its (awkward) curves. The body structure is gangly, almost frail and covered in pale skin that borders on the transparent. Nearly every blood vessel can be seen on her and because she is so thin, many of her bones and knuckles are prominent. Her face is naturally oval with pecan-size eyes (blue, green, or bronze-yellow depending on her mood), a thin pointed noise, and a wide mouth with thin lips. On her face are a few freckles left over from her youth, the pimples finding their way to the surface for adolescence, and the occasional light make-up to hide both flaws.

Her hair is long enough to reach her mid-back and naturally curly, but the color changes with the seasons. In spring, it can get as light as honey blonde; throughout the summer, her hair is a medium brown; during autumn and winter, her hair increases in darkness until it turns black.

This witch's basic wardrobe is full of colors to make up for her opaque skin tone. She often adds colorful highlights to her hair, puts on some eyeshadow and light-colored lipstick, and wears jewelry and accessories to compliment her outfit. She wears  many different outfits that would appeal to a fourteen-year-old girl in both Muggle and wizard fashion lines. Even her clothes avoid the bland white, gray, or black and accentuate her skin tone with pastels and soft colors. Very rarely does she wear neon-bright colors.

This rule is an exception for the months of October through the end of February. Halloween, comfort, and warmth become her primary focus. During the tenth month of the year in honor of Halloween, she will put a single thick, white streak to her black hair and wear Halloween-themed Muggle clothing regardless of color. From November until the weather gets warmer, she cares little for color and more about keeping the cold at bay with stylish (sometimes even not-so-hip) clothing.

Personality Description: Neoma, although young, is a defensive person who doesn't like being in a crowded room. Her name and the jokes that come with it set fire to her dynamite temper, but instead of screaming, yelling, and throwing jinxes everywhere, Neoma gets her revenge in other ways with the cold shoulder, biting remarks, and occasionally slipping something into someone's tea that might make them ill for a while. Her worst trait is that she hasn't yet learned to flip the switch on her defensive mechanism; she can't always turn it off and ends up being rude to innocent people. This mechanism is not turned on all the time, however: competitive get-togethers, libraries, or study halls are all areas where she can be safely approached by another human being.

Fortunately, there is a very positive and friendly side to Neoma: her better side is overflowing with personality and bubbling with humor. She is competitive and a great sport about contests and tournaments, never "in it to win it!"; she is a respectable competitor who enjoys using her talents in an opposition just for the fun of it. She is confident in her abilities and not the braggart or arrogant pest that enters. Even if she cannot compete, Neoma has plenty of spirit for support of her school and dorm-mates.

Competition is a major aspect of Neoma's life because every day life is a competition for her against her siblings. This does not mean she'll flaunt her victory (though she will, as expected, celebrate) nor will she begrudge a person or team when she's lost. Neoma's better half comes into play during sports, tournaments, and contests because she's driving herself (not too harshly!) forward to win or at least improve her skill and making new friends through a temporary rivalry. What can make her upset, though, is if someone does not put full effort into the competition against her or her team; if they only half-ass the whole thing, she finds it unfair and will demand a rematch.

Another advantage to Neoma is her ability to adapt to situations. Competitions, duels, getting stuck with a problem like lifting something too heavy... All of these circumstances are improving her mind's disciplinary training as well as her reaction time. She is, of course, still trying to adapt to the whole "OMG! Boys!" stage of adolescence, but that's to be expected. The flood of hormones and a minor craving for an adrenaline rush have pretty much thrown her into an awkward part of her life.

Also, this particular witch is a knowledge enthusiast. She's not particularly fond of reading books or writing essays to gain knowledge, but instead experience things for herself. Her interests lie primarily in other cultures, different types of magic (Alchemy, Western vs Eastern spells and rituals), Nature magic, and healing. Since her mother's religion is Wiccan, Neoma has taken to trying out different magical potions for cures for mediocre Muggle illnesses such as colds, the Flu, and sinus infections. She has put forth effort to learn what she can in school and her talent lies in the practical application of magic rather than the essays--which is why her grades have only been average for so many years. Specifically, Neoma is excellent at defensive magic and dueling, though she is still trying to work on improving her reaction time and mental focus to keep the spells under control.

History: Laverne Turner was a muggle Wiccan that practiced healing magic every day of her life since she was 9 years old (her grandmother had taught her). Like her aunt, she attended meetings with a Wiccan group and it was at one of these meetings when she was twenty-years-old that she met Romulus Strange. Romulus had been researching "Muggle magic" and found many different cults of muggles who believed in magic, but could not produce actual spells or potions. He was fascinated most by the Wiccans and decided to attend a meeting to see what a muggle congregation was like. The two dated casually for a while and, three years later, got married, having Romaine two years after that. Katrina came along one year next, followed by Marilou two years later, and each of them helped to raise the surprise that came only 365 days later: triplets! Chandra, Charleigh, and Cherry were the worst of the bunch. One year after the arrival of the twins, Romulus decided to tell his wife about his magical heritage. She thought he was making fun of her and fled to her parents' house in La Grange, Georgia. He followed, showed her proof, and Neoma was conceived in the hours of the couple making up.

Grandma (Laverne's mother, Joanne) was very anti-magic and when she learned of her son-in-law's heritage, she tried to convince her daughter of divorcing him. Laverne refused and the entire family was not only kicked from the house, but disowned. They found another house just outside of La Grange where they lived (even after Neoma's birth) for years while Laverne tried to convince her mother to stop her nonsense. Grandma refused.

Romaine's magic began to show and his father felt it was time for the family to return to Salem. Laverne was pregnant during the move one year later. Romulus had a quaint 5 br/3ba two-story house picked out in a nice little muggle town about twenty miles outside Salem. Neoma was in muggle elementary school when Elektra was born into the family in November of 1997. The move to Salem had been the best idea ever: Romaine attended Salem Academy for the first time and the years following, so did the rest of the sisters. Romulus's parents, Angus and Ophelia, stopped by often to shower the family with one or two magical gifts.

Caught in the middle between the triplets and Elektra, Neoma didn't get a whole lot of attention. She scrambled about trying to get her chores done or grab the prettiest sweater from the hand-me-down clothes box her parents would drop in every year. Sibling rivalry between Neoma and Cherry, the youngest of the triplets, became extremely fierce. Her brother's interest in Quidditch was what turned the family's fights around. Their father took them to their first Quidditch game in 2003. The family loved it and, after Laverne did some research, they each chose a team to root for every year. Other family competitions started up such as who could get the best grades could pick the activity for that movie or who did their chores the worst had to redo the chore and the chore of one of the other siblings. Their parents made certain that competition and ambitions towards (small) goals were friendly and taught the family good sportsmanship.

When Neoma entered Salem Academy for the first time, she had more fun than she did in regular muggle school. Unfortunately, many people teased her and her siblings about their last name. It was always the same jokes: "You're so Strange" or "You have a Strange family" and that was when she developed a strong defense mechanism for handling people. Due to the extreme teasing, Neoma began to struggle to get good grades. She asked her older siblings for advice and help, which they gave graciously, and eventually her grades picked up. Since Katrina's suggestion on a homework planner and a good study chart, Neoma's grades picked up significantly.

Neoma graduated from Salem Junior and was moved to the Ptolemy dorms the following year. Her grades faltered at first, but she has picked them up since. During this time, she had began to rely too much on her defense mechanism and it worked so well that it prevented her from making very many friends. Only three months ago, a new child was born: Malachai, the ninth child and second son. She has spent as much time as possible over the summer with him and discovered that a baby brother is far more pleasant than having yet ANOTHER baby sister.

Why Was The Student Allowed/Permitted To Attend The Tournament??: Neoma has a strong interest in studying abroad. Learning spells, potions, and the culture of other magical schools has given her the ambition to push herself hard enough that her grades picked up. She was practically begging to go!

The major reason that she was picked to visit the school, however, was because of her fierce competitive attitude and her excellent support for her house-mates that she's shown thus far. Neoma has the true spirit of competition in her heart: fun, challenging, and respectful. She is, as one staff member recommended, "a good sport and the least likely to humiliate our school if we lose". Making friends during tournaments is a lot easier for Neoma and the teachers thought that, as a bonus learning experience for her, they would send her to one of the most major tournaments in the history of the magical world: "Perhaps international friendships are what she needs rather than people who sit there and make fun of her because she's a Strange girl."

Writing Sample:

Sum up your character in one paragraph: Competitive, a great sport, and eager to learn about many new things, Neoma would be a great person to be around if it weren't for her defense mechanism. In a crowd outside of competitions, she can be crude, sarcastic, and moody when dealing with people who tease her or, occasionally, chuckle mean-spiritedly when she says her last name is Strange.